


Drifting Together

by purplenighttime



Series: nowhere near perfect [1]
Category: The Avengers (2012)
Genre: F/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-05-13
Updated: 2012-05-13
Packaged: 2017-11-05 08:02:38
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 901
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/404145
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/purplenighttime/pseuds/purplenighttime
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Natasha isn't sure when she and Clint became a thing, but she's pretty sure that it's a good thing. Even if it's nowhere near perfect.</p><p>Rated for language and for references to non-explicit sex.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Drifting Together

The first time they kiss, it’s for a mission. She’s infiltrated a Spanish drug cartel that’s doubling as a weapons smuggler and has to give Clint a flash drive in front of the boss. So she walks up to him and kisses him, hard, before opening her mouth and putting the tiny card under his tongue.

When she tries to pull away, he slips his arm around her waist and pulls her closer, deepening the kiss for another few seconds.

She manages to stay composed enough to walk back to her seat with an apologetic _"Mi novio,"_ to the boss, who grins.

* * *

 

The first time they fuck is on another assignment for SHIELD, in Helsinki. She’s waiting for her target at a bar and is just about to call it quits when he shows up, introducing himself as Kyle and pretending not to recognize her. She giggles and introduces herself as Sofia. He buys her a drink - an appletini - which she hates but sips to maintain her cover as a rich heiress. She flirts shamelessly with him, leaning across their table to whisper dirty things in his ear.

After they each down a couple of drinks - enough to lose their inhibitions - she leads him to the ladies’ room and locks the door. She turns to him and he shoves her against the door, capturing her lips in a strong kiss before moving down to her neck, sucking hard enough to leave a mark.

Somehow, she ends up on the counter, leaning against the mirror with her legs wrapped around his waist as he fucks her hard. She moans into his shoulder because even though they’re drunk and in a bathroom she’d never intentionally draw attention to what they’re doing.

When they’re done she waves coquettishly as she straightens her dress, smooths her hair and walks out, ignoring the other women’s scandalized stares.

* * *

 

The first time she and Clint sleep together is in Kiev. They’re on two separate missions but SHIELD set them up in the same hotel for simpler exfil.

The night her mission ends - badly - she finds herself walking down the hall to his room and picking the lock without really having a conscious plan to do so. She takes a step inside and he’s out of bed, a gun against her head before she can take another step.

He takes a deep breath when he recognizes her, putting the gun down and turning to get back in bed.

“Jesus, Natasha. Give a guy some warning.”

“I fucked up, Clint.”

She doesn’t know why she’s telling him - she’s a big girl, she’s dealt with things that are worse than this on her own. But he just nods and says, “We all do.”

Without asking, she takes a seat on the foot of his bed and explains the mission. She’s probably breaking a dozen SHIELD rules, but she just needs someone to talk to. When she’s done with her mission she finds herself going on about other missions, about her life before SHIELD.

She realizes what she’s doing and stops, but Clint doesn’t say anything about it. Instead he starts talking about the horrible things he’s done. They exchange stories all night, two messed-up people sharing the messed-up things they’ve done.

The next morning, she wakes up curled next to him, his arm around her shoulders. Quietly, so she doesn’t wake him, she slips out of bed and walks back to her room.

Neither of them say anything when the helicopter comes to pick them up, but he reaches over once they’re airborne and grabs her hand, rubbing it gently with his calloused thumb.

* * *

The first time she tells him she loves him it’s an accident. They’re in bed together - which happens a lot more often than it doesn’t now that they live in the same building - and she’s staring up at the ceiling as he dozes next to her.

She rolls over and puts her head on Clint’s bare chest, listening to his heartbeat, steady and strong, as his chest rises up and down. “I love you,” she whispers, meaning every word.

His heartbeat increases, and his shoulders stiffen. Natasha rolls away, realizing that he’d heard her. Slipping out of bed, she throws on her shirt and heads for the door.

“Where are you going?” he asks.

She says, “I’m sorry, Clint,” over her shoulder, but keeps walking.

"Tasha."

She doesn’t let anyone else call her that. Stopping, she turns to see Clint sitting up.

"What's wrong? Didn't you mean it?"

"Yes," she whispers.

Clint motions to the spot next to him. "Come on."

She gets back in bed, though she doesn’t get under the covers.

"What's wrong?" he whispers again, his breath heavy on the back of her neck.

Both of them know that if he were to hit her right there, she'd be unconscious. If it were any other person her mental alarms would be going off, but not for Clint. She wonders if that's a bad thing.

Natasha sits very still for a long time before saying, "Are you okay with this?"

She turns to look at him, and he reaches down to take her hand, interlacing their fingers together.

"I love you, Tasha."

She squeezes his hand, and he squeezes it in response. "I don't know how to do this," she confesses, turning away again.

"Neither do I," he says. "We can figure it out together."


End file.
